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I've recently acquired a ThinkServer RD240 for the low, low price of free. I am replacing the included ancient HBA with an LSI-9265 based card and started to freak out re: the backplane - it came with an HBA that can't address drives >2 TB but you reviewed some >2 TB drives when this was still your test system. Am I correct to assume that the backplane has full SAS2 support and I won't run into any issues with a newer HBA?

Also, if you guys remember anything about this machine, do you have any idea what the "P5" PSU connector is for? I am also going to be using an old Intel 320 SSD for my OS drive, 2x 600 GB in RAID1 using the Intel controller, and was hoping to use the 2 unused non-hot swap bays for it, but other than tapping into the slimline SATA power with a splitter haven't been able to figure out how to power them.

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We frequently used those RD240s with a ton of different RAID cards (including SAS3 models) without issue. I believe I even ran some drives at 12Gb/s speeds, but it was more for the hell of it, not actual testing.

On the PSU connector, that was one area we never went into on these systems. For powering certain PCIe cards, what my solution did was use a male SATA power adapter to molex, chop some of the pin shroud off on the adapter and insert it into the drive backplane. That was the easiest way that was also removable if needed.

Something like those, with the side pieces chopped off to allow it to slide into the backplane. This has to be carefully inserted with the utmost patience since you aren't guided into position with the DATA side. You need to make sure you are sliding it in fully seated to the power side, and not bridging any pins. Have it misplaced a mm or two and you fry the backplane.